Seiko InkLink Handwriting System

This inexpensive item is just what the doctor ordered. It is a great accessory of your PDA for taking notes. It also comes with USB cable for use with Laptop or Desktop. I plan on using it in presentations where a projector is connected to computer. It will make a great replacement for the old easel. The only draw back I see is you must remove your expansion pack from a Compaq IPAQ when using it. Not a major problem. Look forward to future capabilites of text recognition.

I bought this to use in teaching at the university. I installed the software and found that the device didn't work. I called technical service at Seiko but apparently this item was discontinued several years ago. A nice gentleman attempted to help me but it was clear that he had never seen or setup or used the device. I was on the line with him quite a while and apparently his supervisor felt enough was enough so I was told to try something and call back if I had problems. I was disgusted with Seiko and contacted my seller and requested a refund. He was very nice about it, credited me that day, and didn't even want the device back.Bottom-line: don't waste your money - Seiko gave up on it ages ago and they don't support it.

Update:The pen battery lasted about 3 weeks for me. ...Man....I wish they had rechargeable batteries!The Palm software is very slow...I have 4 images on the Palm (M515) and it takes a while to load each one of them___________________________________Original:The Seiko InkLink Handwriting System is quite the tool for transforming notes as you write to a electronic picture.Things I liked: Small, compact and functional tool that helps me store a electronic version of written notes.Things I did not like: The help was written by a minimalist for people who like a few riddles!Install phase:As I installed it, I noticed that the attached help pamphlet left a lot to be desired and they ask you to refer to the electronic manual for everything else. (Use explorer to view the contents of the CD and the manual)!The assembly and installation is very simple. But, if you run into even a small software issue, it is just best to reinstall the whole suite (PDA, Desktop). I also ran into this wierd thing of if I keep it connected to the USB Hub, I could not shut the computer down (Windows 98). I had to unplug the device (It was in constant communication mode I guess).I spent a better part of 3 hours trying to figure out how to get to manually synchronize my Palm notes and the Desktop notes. Would it have hurt for them to illustrate the help better.Operation phase:It was working like a charm for taking my notes into the computer. But, I suddenly noticed that if you draw/write very fast, there is chance that you may not digitize some parts of the text/picture.The view on the Palm(m515) is not very useful. You need to zoom to 400% to view the text and get to see very, very small parts of the text. I plan to use the Palm only as a temporary storage device.The ability to associate categories and keywords to each file helps you catalogue the pictures you create.I see this as a very useful tool to help organize your notes and maintain a catalogued, searchable electronic copy!

The InkLink receiver is small and easily clips to a pad or even a single sheet of paper. The receiver can connect via USB to laptop/desktop, or by an IR transmitter to a PDA. The pen has a transmitter near its tip, whose signal is picked up by the receiver. No tablet required! The carrying case that holds all fits in a pocket or brief case.The system accurately transcribes handwriting, pictures, squiggles, and so on. The software stores each session as a file containing one or more pages. Its easy to select, delete, and move words, figures, etc. The final printed version can look better than the original! I'm tempted to use the system for all my notetaking.Some software features are poorly implemented. For example, lines can be straightend, but the operation requires selecting a menu item. There are no standard drawing features, such as menus to make lines, boxes etc. You can copy and paste selections to other pages in InkLink, but you can't copy into other other applications! You can't add a sketch directly to add sketches to, say, a PowerPoint presentation. You can export pages to .jpg, .bmp. or .png format, but that is an awkward way to transfer a document or drawing. (With Adobe Acrobat you can "print" a PDF file that retains the original quality. That's useful for transmitting documents. It would be nice to have that as part of the software.) Conclusoin: the software makes Inklinke a closed system, not an universal input device. Still, it is easy, small, and inexpensive, and I'm tempted to buy a second for home.